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Biometrika 1998 85(1):151-164; doi:10.1093/biomet/85.1.151
© 1998 by Biometrika Trust
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Survival with competing risks and masked causes of failures

BETTY J. FLEHTNGER, BENJAMIN REISER and EMMANUEL YASHCHIN

Mathematical Sciences Department, IBM Research Division, T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights New York 10598, U.S.A. aisen{at}watson.ibm.com rsst305{at}uvm.haifa.ac.il yashchi{at}watsonibm.com

Consider a life testing situation in which systems are subject to failure from independent competing risks. The hazards of various risks are proportional to each other. When a failure occurs, immediate, i.e. stage 1, procedures are used in an attempt to reach a definitive diagnosis. If a diagnosis is not reached, this phenomenon is called masking. Stage 2 procedures, such as failure analysis or autopsy, provide definitive diagnosis for a small sample of the masked cases. This paper shows how stage 1 and stage 2 information can be combined to provide statistical inference about (a) survival functions of the individual risks, (b) the proportions of failures associated with individual risks and (c) probability, for a specified masked case, that each of the masked competing risks is responsible for the failure.

Key Words: Kaplan-Meier • Life testing • Masking • Propotional hazards • Reliability


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